


This is How a Kingdom Falls

by sittingoverheredreaming



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Character Death, Crystal Tokyo Era, Gen, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-06 00:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4200342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sittingoverheredreaming/pseuds/sittingoverheredreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Minako saves Usagi instead of Chibiusa, history threatens to repeat itself in Crystal Tokyo. Tensions run high as the senshi grieve and threaten to destroy the kingdom they want to save.</p><p>Written for the June 2015 Tumblr HaruMichi Circle Same Prompt Fic Party, "Senshi Civil War."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fallout

“Goddamn it Rei, what was I supposed to do?”

Rei shut the door behind them instead of looking at Mina. “What were you supposed to do? Oh, I don’t know, maybe you shouldn’t have let her die.” She wiped at her face.

Mina dug her fingers into her palm. “I made a choice. If you wanted a different one, you should have acted quicker. You and everyone else weren’t doing anything, and I wasn’t about to let Usagi die.”

“And what a saint you are for that, I’m sure she’s so grateful she’s alive right now.”

Mina could still hear Usagi’s screams in her head. “Right now isn’t all there is. She’ll move on, get better, maybe have another kid--” She stopped.

“So that’s what it comes down to,” Rei said, her voice even and quiet. Mina knew at once she should have never said it out loud. A shouting Rei was a Rei she could fight. A Rei focused into calmness was a much more dangerous creature. “Chibiusa is replaceable to you.”

“Not… not like that. But in the grand scheme of things--”

“In the grand scheme of things she is a _child_.” Rei gritted her teeth. “Was a child. Usagi’s been alive for nearly a thousand years now--”

“So that makes it alright to let her die?”

“We’re old, Mina. Older than anyone has a right to be. The world should be moving onto new things.”

She disappeared into their bedroom. Mina leaned against the back of the couch and shoved down her self doubt. It wouldn’t do her any good to question herself. Push forward, not back, that was how she always got through things.

Rei came out with a bag over her shoulder. “I’m going to her, but you should stay here.”

Mina nodded. Usagi surely hated her right now. But her hatred would always be better than her death.

Rei stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “I have one question, Mina. Did you do this out of love for Usagi? Or for Serenity?”

She left without an answer. Mina cursed and kicked the sofa. Her toes punched straight through the vinyl. She kicked again, properly this time, crunching into one of the wood support beams. The side of the couch crumpled. Mina didn’t feel any better.

It had been a battle with too many variables. Years had passed since Usagi had been involved in fights at all, and more and more they’d been letting Chibiusa and her quartet handle the monsters that cropped up. But this one, somehow, whether it was because of its own strength or a fault it their security and patrols, had managed to kidnap queen and princess in one swoop. Thirteen senshi went to fight, a group that hadn’t properly fought together, a group two thirds of which had half retired. Venus had trained Ceres for command. Ceres deferred with Venus present. It was the first mistake. The quartet respected Venus, but their trust was in the leader they knew. There was always that split second of hesitation at Venus’s orders, split seconds that added up. And while Venus would never say her own senshi were off their game, they’d fallen out of practice fighting all together. At their best they had been one mass of energy, fighting with many parts. Now they were eight individuals.

So it had ended up that Venus saw three options: Save only Usagi, save only Chibiusa, or let all of them and god knew how many civilians die.

Mina couldn’t let go of Usagi.

Venus couldn’t let go of Serenity.

It was one thing the dissonants parts of her could agree on. The others would say she must not love Chibiusa, but that wasn’t true. She did, how could she not, but it was a different kind of love. Usagi was the reason they all were born. Usagi was the reason the course of Mina’s life had meaning. She couldn’t be expected to throw that away.

There was a knock at the door. Mina took a deep breath and braced herself for whoever had come to fight it out with her. She was sure it was only Usagi’s grief that had kept the fight from happening on the scene. Mako had carried her back to the palace, Ami and Mamoru close behind, and Minako had slipped away before the others could say anything. It was probably Mako now, come to punch her in the face for what she’d done. That would be better than yelling, really. Direct, simple. Relatively painless.

But it was Ami, not Mako, at the door.

“Whatever you’ve come to say, Rei’s already said it, so--”

“No, that’s not...” Ami looked down to the bag in her hands. “Mako kicked me out, so I--”

“She _what_?”

Ami’s hands were shaking. “I said I understood why you saved Usagi. And I might have done the same thing.”

Michiru stroked Haruka’s hair as she cried in her lap, ignoring the ache in her own chest. “They’ll come back. They didn’t mean it.”

“They only said the truth. We are child killers.”

“And Setsuna was just as on board with killing Hotaru as we were.”

“But we actually killed both of them.”

“We had to.”

“Did we?” Haruka turned her face further away from Michiru. “It didn’t work. I made you do such a horrible thing, and it didn’t even work.”

“You didn’t make me do anything. And that was a very long time ago.”

“Apparently it’s still fresh in some minds.”

“We’re all grieving. Old wounds get reopened.” She turned Haruka’s face up to look her in the eyes. “I know you loved Chibiusa. I know you loved our children, and love Hotaru. You’re not a bad person, Haruka.” Michiru brushed tears from her cheek with her thumb. “And neither is Mina.” Michiru couldn’t say she’d have stood up for Mina herself, but had it been Haruka the demon had taken, she might have made the same choice. Hotaru’s relationship with the princess would have been her only hesitation. And Mina had no stake in that.

Michiru laced her fingers into Haruka’s. “We’ll give them tonight. They’ll sleep off the worst of it, and then we can talk.”

There would be no sleeping tonight. Setsuna watched from the doorway as Usagi pleaded with the Silver Crystal for Chibiusa’s resurrection. It was too familiar a scene. Thousands upon thousands of years, and the sight of her queen doing the same was still fresh in her heart. This was somehow worse, a grief she somehow had not yet experienced in all her lives. It should have been Small Lady that she comforted through this loss. It took all her knowledge and respect not to plead with the crystal herself. She’d trade her life if it meant Small Lady would no longer be cold and still. But that wasn’t how these things worked.

Endymion held her, her hands still so tiny compared to his. Setsuna had promised her she’d grow into a lady as lovely as her mother. She turned away to hide her tears. Hotaru could cry openly with the royal family, she was the fifth member of the quartet in all but name, but Setsuna had no right. She could hear her queen echo from the past, _What good is the dominion of time if you couldn’t even see this and stop it?_ She could not bear to hear Usagi ask her the same.

She dried her face as Rei and Mako approached. They slipped inside without a word to her, their grief and Usagi’s overshadowing her. Pluto belonged at the edges, after all. She stepped to the side of the doorway, out of sight, and sank to the floor. She should have stayed with Haruka and Michiru, nevermind that Haruka had to defend Minako’s honor, they were her family. And they knew Small Lady was, too.

“Pluto?”

Her heart turned to ice. Usagi had been Queen for hundreds of years, but to Setsuna she had never been Serenity. But she knew as she walked into that room, that was who she faced now. Usagi’s eyes were lightless. Her face and heart had gone hard. “Yes, my queen?”

“There is one way to bring her back.”

 _Another kingdom crumbled. Another eon without the silver crystal. Another smattering of planets dead without the light of the universe to draw chaos’s eyes._ _It had never been Metalia’s doing._ “I would not advise that.”

“I am not asking if it is a good idea. I am asking how to do it.”

“I will not tell you.” Queen Serenity had not needed to be told. She’d given Saturn the order without hesitation, and the crystal sealed the souls she wanted to save. Setsuna could only hope the crystal would keep that secret.

“I am ordering you.”

“Order me again in a few days, but I will not tell you now.”

She exited, but this time Rei followed. “She means to do as Queen Serenity did, doesn’t she?”

Setsuna nodded. “I want Small Lady back as much as anyone, but that cannot happen. I would have stopped it then if I could. I will not let it happen now.”

“It will take more than a few days for her to even start to move on.”

“Yes, but it gives us a little time to find some other solution. And if he can keep her otherwise calm, she may at least realize all she has left.”

Rei looked back in. “Mina said she should have another child,” Rei whispered.

“It would be unwise to suggest that.” _She should, for the sake of the world. But Venus should have saved Small Lady, for the same._ But after spending one life drilled to protect one person and one person only, she couldn’t be blamed for doing the same in her next, however much Setsuna wanted to blame her, hate her, for it.

“It would be best, then, if Minako doesn’t see her.” She frowned. “And Ami. Mako said… well, she might make it worse.”

Dread settled into Setsuna’s stomach. The divide was too perfect, too clean. But before she could say anything to Rei, they joined in the hall by the quartet.

“Where are you going?”  

“We have no beef with your girlfriend, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Juno spat.

Ceres put a hand on her shoulder. “If the queen hits the reset button, we don’t want to be a part of it. Our princess may be dead, but there’s a whole world to fight for.” She looked to Setsuna. “Can we outrun it?”

“Get out of Crystal Tokyo. It will only be the kingdom that is destroyed. I will find you if it is safe to return.”

Ceres nodded. They walked down the hall, but Vesta turned back. “We should have been faster. We should have saved her. I’m sorry.”

_The same is true for me._

 


	2. Coming to Blows

“I want to go try and talk to her,” Mina said the next morning. “Haruka’s meeting me there for support. You’re welcome to come.”

Ami’s fingers traced the handle of her coffee cup up and down. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“If there’s going to be any chance of her not hating me forever, I’d better talk to her sooner than later.”

“Hm.” She looked less than convinced, but nodded. “I’ll go with you. Maybe if I talk to Usagi first…”

It was a perversely beautiful day. The sun shone in a clear azure sky, and the lightest breeze kept the heat at bay. The palace sparkled as they approached. Mina caught herself wondering if Mako would take Chibiusa on a picnic with the weather so nice. She bit down on her tongue to keep from crying. She didn’t deserve to grieve.

Haruka must have noticed, though, as she put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She looked like she’d had a trainwreck of a night herself, but neither of them were in a mood for talking. Ami and Michiru trailed silently behind them.

Mina’s heart sank as they came in sight of the gate. The other senshi were waiting there, transformed. Pluto stepped forward. “You are not welcome here right now.”

“I need to see her.”

“Minako. Things are delicate right now, we’re on the edge of facing a repeat of the Silver Millenium’s fall.”

“And that’s my fault.”

“That’s not what I said.” But Mina noticed she didn’t deny it either.

“If she’s to that point, I need to help. If I talk to her--”

“There’s no guarantee it won’t make things worse.” She shifted her grip on her staff. “Please leave, Mina.”

Tears of frustration, and emotions far worse, threatened to gob up in Mina’s eyes, but she instinctively widened her stance. “Are you threatening me?”

“I don’t want to fight you.”

“But you will, is what you’re saying.” She eyed the rest of them. Hotaru looked ready to outright kill her, Mako was certainly rearing for a punch. Rei looked sad, but resolute. If she could get it out of their system, they’d be able to talk, maybe.

“Fine, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.”

“Mina--” Haruka started, but she had already transformed. She whipped her chain around Pluto’s staff and yanked it into her own hands.

“But you’ll have to catch me first.”

 

Mina, it seemed, couldn’t make any right decisions lately. Pluto ran after her, though Mina chained onto a building and propelled herself up, so Rei was unsure if she could be caught.

Uranus transformed, but Rei conjured her flame sniper arrow and aimed. “Let them fight this out.”

“They’ll hurt each other!”

“Pluto is prepared for that.” _Back down_ , she willed Haruka. _The only way to keep this from spiraling into something even worse is if we keep this all on Mina._ She caught Michiru’s eye. She nodded and moved towards Haruka.

But Rei’s arrow sputtered out, her hands suddenly covered in slush. She looked to Ami. Her face was embarrassed but stern. “I’m sorry. It won’t help anyone if Minako dies for this.”

“That’s not--”

But Uranus took off, and Jupiter tore after her. Michiru, now Neptune, stepped in to keep Saturn from following.

“We were trying to keep this under control, Ami.”

“Uranus is right. They’ll get hurt.”

“Mina can more than handle herself, you know that.”

“And how’s Usagi going to feel if her best friend is dead alongside her daughter?”

“No one was going to die, that’s why Pluto was handling it alone.” Rei shook off her hands. “Did you turn off your brain for a day or what?”

“I think we’re all acting on emotions rather than logic right now.” She squared her shoulders.

“Some of us more than others.” She glanced towards the disappearing figures. So long as Mako didn’t catch Haruka, it might be alright. “I’m going after them.” She turned, stepped, and all but fell flat on her face. Her left foot was encased in a block of ice. “Goddamn it Ami, you said you didn’t want any of them hurt.”

“All of you were out here and ready to fight. How can I trust you?”

Rei seethed. “I think your trust issues have a lot more to do with Mako than me.” If Ami was going to play dirty, so was she. “Now unless you want your wife-- ex wife?-- to tumble this all out of control, you’ll let me go.”

Ami’s eyes were wide and hurt. But it was all the opportunity Rei needed.

 

Mina was fast. If the staff wasn’t there to hinder her, Setsuna would have been left in the dust. Minako shot up the sides of buildings with her chain, jettisoned from roof to roof, while Setsuna had to leap from foothold to foothold. Tree, windowsill, firescape, roof. Far too precarious for her liking, but she had to catch Mina before she doubled back towards the palace. Rei thought Hotaru and Makoto were the ones to worry about with Mina, but Setsuna had an increasing dread that Neo Queen Serenity. She was too raw, her power too ready. It wouldn’t bring Small Lady back no matter how much she begged, but it would lash out at her killer easily. _No, not her killer. Mina only killed the monster, it was the monster who killed Small Lady._ The difference was important. If she couldn’t keep ahold of it, there was no hope the others could.

She found Mina waiting on the next roof, facing away. What was a gentle breeze on the ground blew her hair out all around her. The sunlight dances across the strands like a flame. Pluto’s staff hung loosely in her left hand, the garnet orb resting against the rooftop. “Are you tired yet?”

“Minako, I am exhausted. Please stop this.”

“I hurt her, didn’t I?” Her voice was choked. “That’s why you don’t want me to see her. I hurt her beyond repair.”

“I don’t believe anything is beyond repair.” She took a slow step forward.

“Are you going to go back in time and fix it then?”

Another step. “You know I can’t do that. Some things are set as soon as they happen.”

Mina was quiet for a long moment. “This is my real curse, isn’t it? I let her be happy, and the kingdom falls. I choose her life above all else, and the kingdom falls.”

Setsuna shut her eyes and drew a deep breath. “ _Minako._ We can still fix this. She lacks the singular focus Queen Serenity had, she can’t destroy everything so easily.”

She turned then, her eyes red and wet. “You can fix this. I fucked up too badly this time.” The staff clattered against the rooftop as it dropped from her hand. “I’ll leave. That’s what’s best, isn’t it? Maybe that always would have been best for her.”

 _Our crime is loving our queens too dearly._ “She needs you. She will need you, when she’s ready to face the world.”

“For what? More bad decisions and cold-heartedness? The others can cover those bases.” She swatted tears off her cheek with the back of her hand. “If she triggers our rebirth, I’ll try to be a better guardian in that life. I’ll stay the distant Sailor V.”

 _Next time I won’t stay distant when things go wrong. I won’t follow orders unto her destruction._ Setsuna swallowed hard. There was never a right choice. Stay obedient, and everything you knew and loved crumbled. Rebell, fight, die for the little girl you love, she dies anyway and history threatens to repeat itself. She took another cautious step. “We can’t tell how our decisions will turn out.” She meant to say it wasn’t Minako’s fault, but she couldn’t make the words come out. It was her fault, she let the enemy kill Setsuna’s precious friend so that she could save her own. “I understand.”

“Then you’ll let me go.” She turned to run and leap to another roof.

Her foot caught on the staff.

Setsuna saw it as though in slow motion, but she would never make it in time to keep Mina from tumbling off the rooftop.

Part of her wanted to leave it at that. There was nothing she could reasonably do.

The rest of her, though, had already dove for her staff.

 

“Setsuna has it wrong. She’s not the only one who remembers every detail of the fall.” Hotaru kept her glaive pointed at Michiru.

She would have laughed, if uncried tears weren’t blocking the way. If Hotaru remembered every detail, then she knew Neptune was there too. The good soldier who patrolled for external threats until only ashes remained within, who finally broke protocol to die with the glaive’s decent. “Are you going to tell Usagi then?”

Hotaru’s eyes narrowed. “I might. What good is this world without Chibiusa?”

“I’d say you take after me too much for your own good, but if that were true, you’d have done it already.” Michiru nodded towards the palace. “What’s keeping you from walking in there and doing it now?”

“You would stop me.”

“Perhaps.” It amazed her, sometimes, how much they all stayed the same as so much time passed. There had been a time, when Hotaru had been in middle school, when Hotaru had used the same excuse for not telling her mothers when she’d been invited to parties. “You wouldn’t let me go anyway,” she’d say. “Their parents aren’t going to be home.” There was always something else, Hotaru’s feelings about her erratic aging, her experiences as Saturn causing a disconnect, even occasionally ordinary bullying. The cover never worked, but she used it even now. “I imagine, though, you could kill me if you really wanted.”

Hotaru’s already red eyes welled up with tears. “I could. And it wouldn’t matter because everyone be dead in minutes anyway.” Her hands shook. “Even if Setsuna’s right, and it’s just Crystal Tokyo and not the whole planet, that’s millions of people.”

Michiru ached to hug her, to stroke her hair the way she had when she’d been younger and had nightmares, but she knew Hotaru would find no comfort in that now. “So what will you do?”

“I don’t know!” Her whole body heaved with the shout. “I want her back now, not in a lifetime, not after another thousand years of time travel and mismatched ages. I want things the way they were!”

“Oh Hotaru…”

“I don’t want your pity! I don’t want you at all!” She lashed out with the blunt end of the glaive, catching Michiru hard in the stomach.

She gasped for air, and by the time she could breathe again Hotaru was gone.

 

It had been too long since Haruka had seen a flash of gold to guide her. She stopped. It was possible Setsuna had caught Mina on a building. Haruka had stayed on the ground where she could run fastest, but she’d have to climb now to find and help Mina.

There was one problem, she found as she moved to make the first jump.

She’d stopped just long enough for Mako to catch up. She tackled her to the ground, breathing hard. Her fist mashed into Haruka’s jaw once, hard. “How can you take her side?” Mako’s voice was a rough croak, she’d clearly been crying most of the night. “Chibiusa was supposed to be the one kid who watched us grow old instead of the other way around.” She drove her fist into the pavement this time. Haruka imagined the ground cracking, but she didn’t dare turn her head to look. “I thought you of all people would understand that.”

Haruka thought of their children’s playdates, the parenting magazine swaps, the laughter over Haruka being the first to buy a minivan even though she’d had to sell one of her racers to fit it in the garage. It was nice that Makoto had held onto that image of her. But she thought of Hotaru and knew it was false. “I’ve always been heartless, don’t you remember? You were right about me from the start.”

That earned her another hit. Spots swam in her vision. She’d taken hits from Mako before, but Mako had never hit this hard. “You don’t get to act like this. Chibiusa is dead.” The third hit came with a sob. “How could Minako do it? How could you stand up for her?”

Haruka didn’t say anything. There was nothing she could say. Maybe it really did mean she’d loved Mina more than Chibs. Maybe it meant that nothing really had changed, maybe it meant she really never had good priorities with children. She wanted to believe she’d at least been a good parent to her own, but Hotaru was the only one left to ask, and that answer was definitive. She deserved everything Mako gave her and more.

Something gold flashed behind Mako’s head-- Minako’s hair, there and gone so fast that for a moment Haruka was sure that the last punch had merely rattled her brain into hallucinations. But then she processed. Minako had been falling. Minako had been falling and then was no longer falling in the blink of an eye. _No, please let me be wrong._ She caught Mako off guard, shoving her off and scaling the building. Makoto followed, but Haruka couldn’t care. All that mattered was what she would find at the top of the building.

Minako sat on her knees, chest heaving with short breaths, head moving back and forth as though the _no_ motion might convince her brain her eyes were wrong. Setsuna lay before her. Her hands still gripped her staff, and her face looked at peace. Haruka recognized too easily what had happened. Setsuna couldn’t let another senshi die, no matter how she felt about them.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t as obvious to everyone. Makoto gasped as she pulled herself onto the roof. “What have you done?”

 

 


	3. Unravelling

Makoto had wanted to believe there was just some part of this that she hadn’t understood, that Mina was still Mina, even having made her unfathomable choice. But now Setsuna was dead. “Mina. Mina, what did you do?”

Minako blinked, looked up at her, and stood. She held Mako’s gaze and said flatly, “I killed her.”

“That’s not true.” Haruka stumbled towards her. Makoto felt equally impressed that she had managed to scale the building and ashamed at how bad her face looked. Her right cheek had split open, and the skin around her eye was already purpling.

“Stay out of this, Uranus. I killed her.” Minako walked towards Mako, her shoulders loose and slumped like she was drunk. “The question is,” she said, pushing hard against Mako’s chest with one hand, “what are you going to do about it?”

It was wrong, everything was wrong. This had to be some crazy warped nightmare, she got those after people died, she must have fallen asleep next to Usagi and if she could just wake up, things would be back to… still horrible, but Minako wouldn’t have gone this far, she’d be recognizable, she’d--

“I said, what are you gonna do about it?” She lashed out with her chain across Mako’s face. Pain exploded in Mako’s left eye; its vision went red and dark.

She put her hand over it. Dampness she knew to be blood soaked through her glove. The instinct to hit back was squashed by the sheer horror that this was Minako, one of her best friends, who had been there for her for a thousand years. It couldn’t be real. Makoto refused to believe Minako could do any of this.

And yet.

An older memory, the sort she’d avoided all her life because they didn’t matter, nagged at the back of her mind. This wouldn’t be the first time Venus had maimed another senshi. This was Minako, not that Venus, but maybe they had never been as different as Mako had wanted to think. She’d killed Chibiusa, she’d killed Setsuna. She was the same general who’d tolerated no opposition.

And Usagi was the same queen as that lifetime’s mother.

Venus raised her arm to strike again, but Mako just sank to the rooftop. She knew she was different from the Jupiter who haunted her dreams, the efficient but fearful soldier. But was she the only one? That Jupiter remembered Mercury’s coldness. Mako thought Ami to be warm, yet she defended the murder of a child.

Everything was wrong.

She grabbed the chain as it swung towards her face again. The end whipped against the back of her hand, splitting the skin, but it didn’t matter. She pulled Venus to the ground. “When did this happen?” Mako yanked the chain out of Venus’s hands. “When did you take over?”

“I’ve always been the leader.”

“No, when did you take over her? When exactly did Minako die?”

Something akin to horror crossed Venus’s face, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. Mako couldn’t be sure she’d seen it at all. The pain and the blood made her head feel cloudy.

“Are you going to kill me?” Venus hissed. “Or are you that Jupiter now too?”

“Minako, what the hell?”

Rei was there, suddenly, Mako was not sure how, but she was on her blind side. Perhaps she had been there the whole time.

“Haven’t you heard? I’m Venus now. Cold, bloodthirsty Venus. Look what I’ve done, Rei. I’m everyone’s worst fear realized.”

“Stop this before you make it any worse.” Rei knelt next to Mako and looked at her face. “Goddamn it.” She turned to someone to the left. “Can you do anything for her?”

“I should be able to--”

“No,” Mako stood and backed away from Mercury. “Stay away.” She looked at Rei. “I don’t want her touching me.”

“You’ll lose--”

“I’ll live.” Her head felt light and her knees weak, so it might be a lie, but she couldn’t let whatever lived in the shell of her wife that close.

“They’re not Venus and Mercury, Mako,” Haruka said softly. “She’s still Ami.”

“She can’t be.” Mako saw Mercury’s face fall. It had to be an act. “They can’t do these things and be the people we’ve always loved. They can’t.”

“So kill me.” Venus stood. “You know I deserve it.”

“Why are you doing this?” Haruka asked with a cautious step towards her. “I know you’re Minako.”

Venus raised one hand and aimed a finger at Haruka’s forehead. “I told you to stay out of this.”

Rei’s arrow appeared. “Stop it, Mina.”

“You stop it. Shoot me.”

Rei lowered her bow. Mako put her hand on her shoulder. Of all the ways they could have lost their loves, she never imagined it would be like this.

But then Venus’s shoulders slumped. Her whole body shook as she started to cry. “Why won’t you just do this? Any of you!” She dropped her hand to her side. “You hate me, I hate me, it would be better for everyone.”

Mako’s chest felt tight. Relief that this was still Mina, that she’d been wrong, battled with the terrible realization of how hurt she was.

“She fucking saved me, how could she die saving _me_? I made the wrong choice, and you’re all keeping me alive, for what?”

“Mina…” Mako stepped, ready to hug her...

And was stopped by the large, sharp crystal suddenly emerging from Minako’s chest. Minako looked down at it, surprised as Mako, and then turned. Neo Queen Serenity stood behind her. She clutched the silver crystal so tightly that blood ran down her arms from her hands.

The crystal in Minako’s chest disintegrated into the air as she collapsed.

Serenity knelt and shut her eyes with a gentle caress of her thumb. “You’ll make a better choice next time,” she whispered. A single tear fell from her cheek. She looked up to the rest of them with dead eyes. “I need Saturn.”

Rei shook and Mako put her arm around her. Haruka fell to her knees.

Serenity stood up, her face too stern for the woman who had once been Usagi. But if Mina had stayed Mina, however broken, this had to still be Usagi. She had to be reachable. “I said I need Saturn.”

“She’s not here,” Ami said.

“Then help me find her.”

“Y-yes… my queen.”

“The rest of you, too. I need her soon.”

Mako nodded. The reset was the only way to make any of this right. They couldn’t end like this. Mina couldn’t end like this. But Rei grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”

“Excuse me?” Serenity stepped towards Rei.

Rei ran. Haruka followed.

“Do not let those two find her first,” Serenity said.

Ami nodded. Mako followed suit, but looking at Ami she wondered if this was really the right choice.

Haruka’s head pounded with every step. Between the blood and the phlegm from her tears she couldn’t get a good breath. “Rei… stop… I can’t…”

“Do you want Setsuna to have died for nothing?” Rei whipped around. “The reset can’t happen, she made that clear.” A few passerby looked at them before hurrying along. They were used to seeing the senshi in action around town, and had long ago learned to get moving before they saw anything more.

“You go find Hotaru, but I need…” Her head swam. She leaned against the corner of a building. “I need a minute.”

The ferocity dropped from Rei’s face. “Shit. Do you have a concussion?”

“I’m not sure.” It wouldn’t be the first time, riding a motorcycle for a thousand years had gotten her into more than one accident, but she couldn’t remember if it had felt quite like this. “I might just be shaken up.”

“Dammit Haruka, she’ll never forgive me if you die on my watch.”

It took Haruka a long minute to realize she didn’t mean Michiru. “I dunno, she might be glad we’re reunited sooner.”

Rei might have slapped her if she didn’t already have head damage. “That’s not funny.”

“I know, sorry.” But Rei had started crying in earnest.

“If I had stayed with her last night…”

“No.” Haruka ignored her own tears. “We can’t do this, not right now.” She was the one who should have noticed Serenity and stopped her, anyway. She was the one who should have been able to talk Mina down sooner. “You said yourself we need to find Hotaru.”

Rei nodded. “If you can’t--”

“I can.” But she stumbled on her first step. Nausea rushed over her; if she had eaten breakfast that morning she surely would have lost it. “Shit.”

“Sit down,” Rei snapped. Haruka did, resting her back against the stone corner of the building. She was surprised when Rei squatted next to her. “How could things go so wrong so fast?”

“Mina didn’t mean for it to go like this. She just…”

“I know.” Rei put her face in her hands. “God, if only she hadn’t done it. If only we’d detected that demon in time.”

Mina’s face played in Haruka’s mind. She wanted to remember her as she had been, glorious ridiculous Mina, but her brain kept reverting to those last moments. Haruka should have stopped her. Should have saved her. “I’m sorry.”

“Haruka!”

Michiru’s voice seemed to echo through the streets. The few people who remained around gave a start. Haruka couldn’t see her, but then she felt a touch on her shoulder. “Michi…”

“What happened?” Her fingers moved lightly over Haruka’s face, deftly avoiding the bruises.

Haruka caught her arm and pulled her down closer. She pressed her face into her shoulder. “Mina… and Setsuna…”

“They’re dead,” Rei said quietly. “And she has a concussion.”

Michiru knelt down and pulled Haruka even closer. She nestled her face into her hair. Haruka felt a few drops of water make their way to her scalp.

“And Serenity’s looking for Hotaru. She’ll do the reset if she can.”

Michiru’s hands clenched on Haruka’s shoulders. She pulled away slowly and looked at Rei. “Hotaru doesn’t want to do it.”

“I wouldn’t trust Serenity to not force her right now.” Rei swallowed hard. “She killed Mina.”

Michiru took a deep breath. “You need to hide out and rest,” she said to Haruka.

“Michi, I’m fine. We need to find Hotaru.”

“Haruka, if you value your life at all… If you love me at all, you will stay put and rest and not make your concussion any worse.”

“I love you.”

“I know.” She put Haruka’s arm around her shoulders and walked her across the street to a donut shop. It had been one of Usagi’s many favorites. “Excuse me,” she said to the bewildered man behind the counter. “You’re closed now. I need you to watch her. Don’t let her leave. Don’t let her talk. She needs to rest. You may feed her if she gets hungry, and make sure she always has water. Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good.” She laid Haruka down on the floor. The man scurried to place a bundle of aprons under her head. “I’ll be back for you soon.” She kissed her very lightly. “I love you, Haruka.”

“I love you too.” Haruka watched as she shut the blinds and walked out the door with Rei. She’d join them as soon as she could.

Hotaru ran. She wasn’t sure where or even entirely why anymore. She didn’t care if Michiru caught her. Maybe it would even be better that way. She could feel pieces of the world unravelling.

She’d thought, briefly, that she could end it all for Chibiusa. That it was worth the sacrifice to bring her back. But she could hear, almost, Chibiusa’s protests. She wouldn’t even stand by Hotaru ending her own life, much less millions of others.

And in Hotaru’s heart, she knew she couldn’t do it anyway.

She rounded a corner. There was Makoto, peering down another street. Hotaru stopped. Mako’s left eye was nothing but a bloody gash. Hotaru’s stomach twisted. Someone had done this to her. “Mako…”

She gave a start. “Oh. There you are.”

“What’s going on?”

Mako pressed her lips together. “You... There are some things you should know.”

“Who’s dead?” She swallowed down her fear.

“Minako… and Setsuna.”

 _Mama._ It wasn’t fair, of all the people in the world to die, why were those closest to her going first? She tried to think of the last time she’d told Setsuna she loved her. She was bad about that, sometimes she honestly believed she didn’t, but she must have recently, hadn’t she? What had been the last thing she’d said to her? When had she last hugged her?

“That’s not all.” Mako shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Serenity wants you.”

“I won’t do it. Chibiusa would never have wanted it. The rest of the people here wouldn’t want it.”

“But you…” Mako’s eye went soft. “You should hide, then. Things aren’t… no one is acting right. And I’m not the only one looking for you.”

Hotaru nodded, turned.

“Oh there you are.”

She sounded like Usagi, the big sister figure rather than the mother. There was blood on her hands, blood on the crystal, but she looked so happy that Hotaru was there. “I’ve been trying to find you.”

“I can’t do this for you.”

“You can. You need to.” She came closer and stroked Hotaru’s hair. “We need them all back. Chibiusa needs to live.”

“And what happened to the girl who wouldn’t sacrifice even one person?”

“No one is being sacrificed. They’ll all come back. I’ll make it so. No one has to stay dead.”

“Having another life isn’t the same as not dying.”

“It’s our only choice.”

“No.” Hotaru backed away. “She would want us to live our lives. These lives, as best we can. We can’t destroy the kingdom in her name.”

“The kingdom is already destroyed with her gone.” She gripped the crystal so tightly that Hotaru was sure either it or her hands would break. “Saturn… Hotaru please.”

“I will not kill all these people for you.”

And like a snap, the resemblance to Usagi was gone. “Jupiter. Destroy… that building.” She pointed to a large apartment complex.

Mako’s eye widened. “What?”

“We need to remove whatever moral objection Saturn has. If she won’t kill people, we will. She can be the savior instead of the destroyer.”

“Usagi…” Mako shook her head. “Don’t do this. Don’t make me do this.”

“I want my daughter back. Are you going to deny me that?”

Mako looked up at the building, then back at Serenity. There had to be hundreds of people in that building alone. Hotaru could feel the conflict of Mako’s love and Mako’s values. She understood it too well now.

“Now, Jupiter.”

Mako sank into a genuflect, fading into civilian form on the way down. She threw her transformation stick down an alleyway. “I’m sorry, Usagi.”

Hotaru saw Serenity’s hands move along the crystal. She saw the anger in her eyes and knew what was coming. So she moved first.

She drove the glaive into Mako’s back between her shoulder blades. _My job is to end suffering._ “Usagi loves you,” she whispered. “She always has and always will.”

“Hotaru… how could you…” Blood sputtered her words.

 _It’s better you hate me than die feeling she hates you._ “I have my own agenda.” She swallowed hard at Mako’s disappointed face. Hotaru guided her to the ground gently. She wondered if this was how Haruka and Michiru had felt all those years ago. Though she’d thought she’d cried far to much to have any tears left, she felt them start to roll down her face.

Mako turned her head toward Serenity. “Tell Ami… I’m sorry.”

 _I will,_ Hotaru promised silently. She doubted sorry remained in the queen’s vocabulary. As the last breath wheezed out of Mako’s chest, Hotaru ran.

 


	4. Crumbling

The city became a labyrinth when you had one person to find. Ami adjusted her goggles. If she could just find Hotaru, everything would be alright again. The back of her mind whispered insidious thoughts-- _You won’t remember this life anymore than you remember your last one. She’ll forget you and what are the chances of her loving you twice?_ \-- but she could not pay them heed. Usagi wanted this. _Prioritizing her above all else is still selfish._ She would deny her nothing, and certainly not a second chance at happiness.

She saw a flash of black hair as she turned a corner. Ami ran as hard as she ever had, but it was not Hotaru she found, but Rei, Michiru with her. Still running, they did not notice her.

She almost called out. A better plan entered mind just in time. She could not take them both. Truthfully, she would be lucky if she could take one of them, but separating them would give her a chance.

Ami focused on her element, feeling out the water already in the air to aid her. She needed to keep them from noticing until it was too late. _Rei will remember this. She will not forgive you._ Ami breathed out sharply. Rei loved Usagi, Usagi wanted this, it would be fine. The air around her felt soupy. Sweat began to roll down her neck. Ahead, Rei and Michiru slowed. Ami smiled. Just a little more water…

And she slammed it into ice around them, cutting straight between Rei and Michiru. With all her might, Ami used it to push Michiru far down a side street and then thickened the walls. Rei turned to face her. The cold arena was large, but still too confined for Rei’s usual fighting style.

“Don’t do this, Ami,” Rei said, her breath forming clouds with each word. “Too many people are dead already.”

“And they don’t have to stay that way.” Ami kept her eyes on Rei’s hands. Her arms were tense, but her fists loose. Their tightness was her worst tell. Ami could keep her guard low until they clenched.

“It’s not the right answer. Setsuna made that clear.”

“Setsuna’s dead. Don’t you want her back?” Ami narrowed her eyes. A part of her she never wanted to acknowledge savored her coming words. “Don’t you want Minako back?”

Rei’s fists clenched. Ami summoned a whirl of water to dowse the fireball she lobbed. “I thought you were above that sort of thing.”

“It’s only smart to fight on an even plane. Have you forgotten this morning already?”

“And look how that turned out. If you hadn’t stopped me, the two of them might still be alive.” Rei shifted; Ami mirrored her. “Hotaru doesn’t want to do this. You can’t force her.”

“We can make her see it’s for the good of the world.”

“The world is already doing good. There’s enough of us left to fight the few monsters that pop up. Even outside of Crystal Tokyo, that’s been the only threat to peace for centuries.” Her eyes narrowed. “What you want isn’t for the world at all.”

Ami took a deep breath. “How can you throw her away, after everything she’s done for us? We would have nothing if it wasn’t for her.”

“That woman isn’t Usagi anymore, Ami. We’ve lived too long. This should have been when we started quietly dying off.” Rei’s stance loosened. Ami could not tell if it was a feint to get her guard down. “Power always corrupts. It broke Queen Serenity, it’s broken Usagi. There’s a line between Queen and God, and with Hotaru she can cross it.”

“You don’t remember Queen Serenity.”

“I remember the final battle, and the fall. That’s all I need.” She stepped forward. “Do you want to have a life where this day is all you remember of Usagi?”

 _If that life is like this one, I won’t remember anything._ “Do you want this day to be the last thing anyone remembers of Usagi?”

“That’s not the only option. We can all move forward, Ami.”

“That’s what Usagi wants to do.” Now was the moment. With a flick of her wrist she brought down the ice above Rei. Rei dove to the side. Ami focused. It was hard enough to freeze something from body temperature, much less something in a body so in tune with Mars’s internal fire. But she only needed to freeze a small bit while Rei was too distracted to break her focus. One little ice shard in the blood stream, heading to the heart. Ami felt it out. Rei stood and faced her, but it was done.

She grabbed her chest as it hit. Ami let the ice walls down. “I’ll make sure you come back. You and Minako and everyone. We’ll be happy with Usagi again.” Tears stung at her eyes, but now was no time to cry.

She turned away as Rei collapsed. If only the remaining obstacles would fall so easily.

Michiru stared down from a rooftop. She knew she could break through the ice easily; it was doing it without pummeling Rei that posed a problem. Part of her couldn’t help but admire Ami’s strategy. She’d given herself every advantage.

“Michiru-mama?”

Her heart skipped. She turned away from the ice. “Hotaru.”

“Where’s Papa?” Hotaru’s voice was small and thick with tears. Michiru abandoned all caution and wrapped her arms around her.

“She has a concussion. She’s resting out of sight.”

“We need to get her and leave. I don’t want to lose you.”

It was easier, somehow, when Hotaru hated them. It hurt, certainly, but her protectiveness was a far stronger pain. Michiru always marveled at how much love could hurt a person. She rubbed Hotaru’s back. “Haruka needs to rest, but as soon as she can move, we’ll get out of here.” She ran through the possibilities in her mind. She’d kept contacts on Kinmoku throughout the generations. Taiki’s descendants had always been excellent pen pals. If they could make it there, she was sure they would be offered asylum. She glanced back. They might be able to avoid a fight if they slipped away now and waited in the shadows until they could leave, but only if she left Rei. It wouldn’t be fair, but family came first. Rei knew that about Michiru. She couldn’t blame her for following her nature.

A deep rumbling cut off her suggestion that they start moving. A few blocks away, one of the tallest buildings collapsed in on itself, sending up a cloud of dust and crystal fragments.

Hotaru gasped. “She’s doing it. Mako wouldn’t so she is.”

 _Haruka_. “We have to go, where Haruka is might be next.”

Hotaru nodded, horror in her big dark eyes, but a voice behind them said, “No.”

Michiru turned and pulled Hotaru behind her. “I thought you’d be too gentle for this sort of thing, Ami.”

She didn’t respond. Michiru knew she couldn’t tell if it was a snipe or a compliment. It was, of course, both. “How did you incapacitate Rei?”

“She’s dead.”

Her heart sank. She shouldn’t have hoped. _It is probably better this way. How much more could Rei’s heart take?_ “Oh, say it right. Say you killed her.”

“She won’t stay dead. We’ll all have another life soon.”

“Some people believe in heaven, Ami. They believe that everyone has a second life after this one. And yet.” She called out her mirror into her hand. “When they send people there, they’re still murderers.”

To Ami’s credit, she didn’t lash out. “And some people choose not to save others when they can. In the medical field, we call that negligence.”

Hotaru tensed. Michiru reached back and squeezed her hand. “Refusing to end millions of lives for the sake of one is not negligence. Do you think anyone will be the same in rebirth? You don’t remember how different it was last time. Reincarnation births new people. Every life taken today is a life taken, not put on pause.”

“Usagi--”

“Is functionally gone.” Another building rumbled to the ground. “Would Usagi do that? Would Usagi kill Minako?”

“It’s for the sake of rebirth. She wants her life back.”

“She’s had her life. A thousand years of it.” Rei had never been comfortable with how long they had lived. Michiru was beginning to see the merit of it. At what point did no length of life become enough? Mina should have let Usagi die. They all should have died a long time ago. For a fleeting moment, she imagined what it would have been like to grow old with Haruka, dying slowly together surrounded by grandchildren who hadn’t had the instinctual urge to keep their distance from such unnatural, unaging elders. Haruka would have loved it, even as her knees got too bad for her to run or even drive. It should have been that way. “We all have.”

Ami’s eyes narrowed. “Then don’t try and save Haruka.”

Michiru laughed. Hotaru and Ami both jumped. “You prove yourself to be so smart, and yet you misunderstand so horribly.” She sent one blast from her mirror at Ami. It hit her square in the shoulder and she stumbled back. “She and Hotaru are all that are left for me. And I won’t let anything break my family any further.” One swift kick, and Ami was gone over the edge. It was cold, it was murder, it was what needed to be done.

“We’ll find Papa,” Hotaru said. “And leave. Serenity might stop once she realizes I’m gone.”

Another building crumbled. Michiru was certain it wasn’t true, but she nodded. “Let’s go.”

Usagi twisted the crystal in her hands. It had been so easy for Queen Serenity, the crystal had shown her. She’d made the wish and Saturn had come. Easy, instant. The crystal was ready, the crystal was willing. Why wouldn’t Saturn come?

Why wouldn’t the crystal bring everyone back on its own? It always had, before now. Usagi hated it even as she relied on it. When it mattered most, it would not obey her. That, at least, was the same in this lifetime. With another twist it brought down another building. It was backwards, now. The Queen would bring destruction and Saturn would bring life. She despised Hotaru for making her do it. She despised Minako for bringing them to this point. All her life, her long, long life, she’d never felt so much hatred.

Maybe that was why everything was so broken. The crystal responded best to a pure heart. She’d felt nothing but hatred from the moment her daughter died. Hatred could not bring her back. So it fell to Saturn.

She brought down another building. Residents screamed from inside, but they were quiet soon enough. Hotaru would come stop this soon. She had to.

People had begun running into the streets, trying to escape the destruction. Crystals ran them through with barely a thought from Usagi. Maybe it should have scared her, how easy it was. It had, that morning with Mamoru, when he’d tried to stop her from going to find Saturn. She’d cried, screamed, she’d hadn’t meant to at all, she’d only wanted him to stop holding her back, but then she realized. It was all to make her choice easier. If everyone was already dead, there was no reason not to send them all into another life. So now she did the same for Saturn. Hotaru. Whichever she was, it didn’t matter. The crystal had shown her more of the past life today than she’d ever remembered, and it was hard to keep it straight.

She’d seen the war and the aftermath. The earth tearing itself apart in the fallout, the rest of the solar system dying in the kingdom’s absence. At first she’d thought it was a warning. But if the earth had recovered before her return, it would be more than alright this time. They’d done so much more for it than the Moon Kingdom had. They deserved to return again.

Usagi walked down another street. More people, and then more corpses. Where was Saturn? Usagi didn’t want to do this anymore. She was ready to rest, for the long sleep that came between lives. And then she’d wake up with Chibiusa and Mamoru and everyone again. Or not quite, but she’d have them soon enough. 

She looked around wearily. The realization of where she was bit at her heart. She and Chibiusa had been here just last week, disguised as civilians to get donuts. She could see her little princess now, dancing in the street in place of the corpses to celebrate getting to the last chocolate sprinkle donut before Usagi could. They’d be together again soon.

The store was closed, odd at this time of day, but maybe understandable given the circumstances. But the blinds were drawn. The never drew the blinds, it kept people from seeing the donuts, and that was no good.

It was strange enough that Usagi had to peek inside.

As soon as she opened the door, she smiled. She’d found another way to make Saturn come to her. 


	5. The End

There was a noise, a loud noise. It took Haruka a long moment to register it had been a scream. She surfaced to full consciousness slowly. Blood on the floor. Not hers, none of it was on her. She turned her head. The shopkeeper was on the floor too, now, but he wasn’t breathing. Haruka’s limbs felt too heavy for her to try and help him. And they weren’t alone.

The blood had seeped into Serenity’s gown, dyeing it dark red around her ankles and in splatters up to her chest. She leaned back in one of the vinyl chairs, the silver crystal sitting casual on the table next to her in its own little pool of blood.

“It could heal you, you know.”

Her voice was cold and flat. Haruka might have shuddered if she’d had the energy. “Oh?”

Serenity poked at the crystal’s points. They dug into her already scratched fingers, but she didn’t seem to even feel the pain. “All I’ve asked of it today, and it says it’s willing and able to heal you. What good are you? You’re not my daughter, my husband, my best friend. What makes you worth saving?”

Haruka couldn’t argue, but agreeing would get her nowhere either. “Usagi. I’ve been through some of this too.”

“Your children grew up.” She bared her teeth like an angry wolf. “You knew what would happen when you had them, you got exactly what you signed up for. This is not what was supposed to happen for me.”

“It still hurts.”

“That’s your problem. Maybe in the next life, you’ll get more time with them.” Serenity kelt to the floor, suddenly gentle. Haruka almost pointed out that she was getting her dress dirtier, silly kitten, she had to be more careful, but she caught herself. Serenity brushed the hair out of Haruka’s face. “You do want another life, don’t you? You want Minako to have a happier ending than this? And Setsuna?”

They danced across her mind. Setsuna in the kitchen, carefully teaching Hotaru how to make Chibiusa’s favorite cake. Minako in karaoke bars, charming strangers but always trying to catch Rei’s eye. Setsuna’s quiet smiles, Minako’s infectious laughter. They were so much more than two cold corpses on a lonely rooftop. Maybe in another life, Minako could have the life she wanted. Haruka could find her, fight so that she could stay an ordinary girl. Or Setsuna could take Mina’s place amongst the inners, be a part of the big circle of friends she’d never quite managed to break into. She’d been happy in their family, but she’d always felt a little out of place in the group as a whole. They could fix that. The next life could be perfect for the two of them.

“I just need your help convincing Hotaru.”

Haruka opened her mouth to agree. But there was a whisper in the back of her mind. _Our family was the best life I could have asked for. And Mina would never trade what she had with you and the girls for anything._ Haruka could feel the quiet smile, too. _We were happy, Haruka, not all the time, but as happy as people can be in a life. You don’t need to do this for us._

“Setsuna…” But her presence was gone. Haruka felt the weight of her death a second time. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t help you.”

“You’ll help me. Just in a less gentle way.” The crystal disappeared from the table and reappeared in Serenity’s hand just as the bell over the door rang. Michiru and Hotaru stopped. Haruka knew at once what was coming.

 

 

Hotaru swallowed hard and grabbed Michiru’s hand. There was no point in that, though. This was the end. Serenity had out played her.

“I don’t have to do it,” she said. She lifted Haruka’s head into her lap. “It’s painless if you end things. Just like putting everyone to sleep.”

“No.” Hotaru felt Michiru look down at her, but she refused to meet her eyes. “You could just let her live. I’m not going to do this for you.”

“Hotaru.” Haruka lifted her head weakly. “Never give in. I love you, you might not believe it but I do. And Michiru--”

A crystal choked off her words, piercing straight through her throat. Her eyes bulged. There was not final breath, only blood, blood in her mouth, blood running down onto her chest, blood on the floor coating every tile in red. Hotaru wanted to scream, Hotaru wanted to run, cry hide, forget all of this as best she could, but she knew she would be stopped.

Michiru let go of her hand.

Hotaru fought back her tears. Two parents dead, and one who would destroy the world to bring her wife back. She braced herself. Would Michiru fight her outright, or use words? She was too skilled with both kinds of weapons for Hotaru to be able to guess. “Mama…”

A wave of energy took the front wall out. Michiru aimed her mirror not at Hotaru, but at Serenity. “You didn’t think I would let that slide, did you?” Serenity stood, and Michiru blasted her into the street. “It’s an eye for an eye, princess.”

Serenity’s hair came loose. Messy strands framed her cold eyes. “You can’t tell me you don’t want her back.”

Michiru’s smile was even colder. “I used to think Haruka was the only part of this world worth saving. And she’s still one of the few.” She walked towards Serenity in slow, measured steps. “But Setsuna was also part of my family. She’s gone. The children Haruka and I had are gone, and their descendants want nothing to do with us.” She stood before Serenity, their faces inches apart. “You’ve left one person we both loved, and I’ll take you with me to hell before I let you force her into anything.”

The crystal lashed out, but Michiru leapt away. She sent a wave of energy that crashed down on Serenity. The crystal shielded her. Hotaru watched through bleary eyes. She’d prepared for anything but this. She hadn’t imagined that anyone could matter as much as Haruka to Michiru, and certainly not herself.  They’d killed her once. They’d tried before that. But maybe the hundreds of years after that hadn’t been an empty appeasement to their guilt. She’d genuinely loved them, at least some of the time, and maybe they’d loved her too.

Michiru took a crystal through her right shoulder. Her arm hung limp even as she launched another attack.

Not maybe. Hotaru’s heart ached for their lost time. They’d been a happy family, but she could have made it better. Easier. She’d hurt Haruka the most, she knew. She should have said something before she died, should have said more long before that.

Michiru slammed against a wall across the street. She’d taken another hit right above her hip. There was no way she’d be fighting much longer. Serenity strode towards her, breathing hard but mostly unharmed. Hotaru saw her chance. When Serenity turned her back to her, she moved.

“The moon controls the tides, Neptune. You can’t win.”

Michiru lifted herself from the wall, shaky on her feet. “Arrogance is a deadly flaw, Serenity. I haven’t stopped breathing yet.” She raised her mirror one last time. A crystal struck it dead center and shattered the glass. The resulting blast blew Serenity backwards.

Straight onto Saturn’s glaive.

Hotaru felt it break through bone and muscle. Serenity’s body went limp on the end. With a shudder Hotaru dropped it and ran to Michiru.

“Thank you, Hotaru.”

She’d slid down the wall. Hotaru knelt next to her. “Mama, I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“And I love you.”

Michiru smiled. “I know that too.”

“You’ll tell Papa and Setsuna-mama for me, right? That I love them?”

“Oh Hotaru, they already know.” She leaned forward and kissed Hotaru’s forehead. “But I will. And I’ll tell you that we all always loved you.”

“I know, Mama.” She sobbed into Michiru’s good shoulder until she felt her pulse stop. She gently guided her head to the ground and closed her eyes. Hotaru wiped her eyes.

She turned. There, in the middle of the road, sat the crystal, bloodstained but still beautiful. Part of her wanted to destroy it, but there was no telling what that would do to the world or if it was even possible. She picked it up gingerly.

_Thank you, Hotaru_ , said a soft, friendly voice she couldn’t be sure was just in her mind. _And know that I always loved you too._

Hotaru smiled in spite of her tears. She’d continue on in Chibiusa’s name, in the name of all their departed companions.

She walked out of the ruined city and into the light of the sun. The quartet was still out there somewhere. She’d find them, and they, in turn, would find the crystal’s new holder. Not a queen, not a princess. Just someone who was, and always would be, an ordinary girl.


End file.
